Toyota Repair: Tundra Exhaust Manifold, side exhaust manifold, warranty periods

Question
Hi Ted,

The quoted text below represents that which I left with Toyota Inc at their website.  Can you please comment.  I've seen your response regarding a gentlemen who had a problem with his exhaust manifold, but didn't see a response from him to your question regarding why exactly he had to have his manifold replaced (O2 sensor?)?  Anyway, what about cracking?  Is this a common problem?...Thanks,  Ed.

"Greetings,

I own a 2001 Tundra access cab 4x4. At about 35k miles, I noticed a ticking noise emanating from the right side of my engine. As it turns out, the dealer had to replace the right-side Exhaust Manifold that had cracked.

For the past 25 years, I have been a faithful GM and Ford owner. Only until recently did I decide to break ties with the American manufactures because I was tired of dumping two or three thousand dollars every 80k miles to keep their vehicles on the road. So, you could probably imagine my total dismay and shock upon having the news broken to me that at 35k miles my Exhaust Manifold had cracked! My word; you wouldn't see a problem like that occur in an American-made truck until roughly 100-150k miles – if at all!

I gave Toyota the benefit of the doubt and, of course, it was fixed under warranty. Shortly thereafter my warranty expired and, you guessed it, at 40k miles the same ticking noise surfaced at the left side! The exact same problem! This is totally UNACCEPTABLE! Like I said, I would not expect this to happen at 35k and 40k in ANY vehicle let alone Toyota. I bought Toyota to AVOID this kind of poor quality! Obviously, the manufacture lot for these manifolds was bad. How else can you explain that I would have two Manifolds fail in the same vehicle within 5k miles.

I am not an unreasonable person. I understand warranty periods and as much as I wish they could last a lot longer, understand why they can't. But, I am extremely upset that I have to deal with this and only 5k miles out of warranty! I respectfully request that Toyota fix this problem at no cost. That would be the only right thing to do and what you would expect from a company whose sole existence was carved from a reputation of quality and standing behind their product.

Sincerely,

Ed"

Answer
The most common reason why the exhaust manifolds have to be replaced is when the O2 sensor is seized in the manifold, Toyota has just revised the warranty coverage for O2 sensors and the manifold due to a stuck sensor to something like 7 years/70,000 miles but it does not cover cracked manifolds which are rare, at this point I would wait for a response on the letter you wrote.